


Almost There

by lunarlychallenged



Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 17:37:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16269107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarlychallenged/pseuds/lunarlychallenged
Summary: Telling Kevin that you liked him seemed like a bad call.  Moving on didn't seem much better.  You decided to wait for some kind of sign to tell you which to do.





	Almost There

It seemed like a societal flaw to trap members from the world’s most hormonal, unstable people group in a building together for seven hours every day. You weren’t sure that bring in such close proximity brought out everybody’s civilized side, and the current school year had proven that point.

Teenagers are emotional. Teenagers are devious. Teenagers will stab each other in the back for something extreme, like for the greater good, or for something trivial, like to get the last fruit roll up.

That being said, you weren’t one to talk. Your mad crush on Kevin Gnapoor made you as irrational as the rest of them. You didn’t tell people, but these were rapid animals. They could smell it.

Regina had thrown it at you in an offhanded comment while you worked on a group project with the two of them. Kevin shot you a look, as though to tell you that laughing would only make her worse.

Tyler had noticed it right away, and though he didn’t tell anyone, you could feel the way he watched all of your interactions like a soap opera.

Marwan noticed later. He thought that you had terrible taste, but he smiled while he said so.

Norbury reminded you, as sarcastic as ever, that there was a Mathletes competition the night of the dance. She told you that you would fail her class if Kevin ditched to go to the dance with you.

Kevin was probably a whale or something, because he couldn’t smell the smitten on you at all. At. All.

It would have been funny if that didn’t allow you to pretend that you stood a chance.

 

 

“I mean, a female Doctor? The feminists are taking over!” Tyler had put on a nasally voice, and none of the rest of you hesitated before joining him. “I’m an adult virgin!”

“If only we’d had developed senses of humor when Vine was alive,” Marwan mourned.

“The world couldn’t have handled all of this,” Kevin said. He spun in leisurely circles in the computer chair.

You snorted. “Right, that’s it. It isn’t that you aren’t funny.”

“I’m hilarious, son.”

“Say something funny.”

Kevin grinned at you, head tilted back so he could see you upside down. “Couldn’t possibly say something that’s funnier than your face, Y/N.”

The others cupped their hands over their mouths. “Ooooooooh.”

“Wow,” you said. “You’re right. That’s totally Vine material. You’d have been rolling in dough by now.”

“I’d be making it rain,” Kevin said dreamily. “The ladies would be going wild.”

“If only you were old enough to hire a prostitute,” you deadpanned.

Tyler laughed. “She got you there, man.”

“I’m tall,” he protested. “And any honey would be willing to bend rules to get with Kevin G.”

“But here you are, single as ever,” you said. You gave the chair an extra boost, sending him spiralling.

Kevin spread his arms, smacking Marwan in the side with every twirl. “I’m not ready to settle down. I’m enjoying my options.”

“It’s a Friday night,” Marwan pointed out. “I’m not seeing any options here, unless you count Y/N.”

The four of you were sitting in Tyler’s basement, with Twilight Zone reruns playing in the background. The boys weren’t so much as texting any girls, let alone wooing them.

“Y/N does not count,” Kevin ceded. “Unless she wants to go up to Tyler’s room.”

“Sure,” you said sweetly. “C’mon, Tyler. Give me a full tour. Show me everything.”

“Ouch.” Kevin stopped the chair to give you a cocky smile. “I think I could give you just as good of a tour, babe. Kevin G can show you what you wanna see.”

“Believe me, you can’t,” you lied. It was an easy lie to give, and it didn’t feel like it costed you much. Tyler’s eye roll, maybe. Marwan’s huff of disbelief.

All Kevin did was put a hand over his heart. “You don’t mean in. You’ll come around.”

“Try again when you’re making it rain.”

“I will,” he promised. “But you’ll come crawling back before then.”

“Fat chance,” you said, and the grin on his face made you wonder if he knew how flimsy the words were.

 

 

“Y/N,” he said eagerly. “Y/N, girl, lovely lady -”

“Kevin,” you sighed back. “Kevin, bro, man ho -”

“Woof,” he grinned. “That would be offensive if it wasn’t my dream.”

You closed your English book and gave him your full attention. “What’s up?”

“We should go door to door tonight to collect cans for the food drive. I want that pizza party in homeroom, yo.”

Tyler looked up from his lunch, surprised. “I thought that you and I were -”

“Nope,” Kevin said smoothly. His body jerked, and there was a thump under the table.

Tyler winced, leaning down to rub his foot. “Jesus Christ, fine.”

“Y/N, let’s do this thing,” Kevin said.

You grinned. “Alright, let’s win a pizza party.”

Tyler shot you a pointed look. You pretended not to notice. Kevin was too busy charting a collection route to see the dopey smile on your face.

 

 

“Y/N, I swear to God, I’m going to kill someone if you don’t put Kevin out of his misery soon,” Tyler said earnestly.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s driving me insane. He doesn’t talk about anything else, and his raps are sappy, and he’s so busy trying to prove a point to you that he won’t share food with anyone else -”

You snorted. Your class didn’t win the food drive competition, but Kevin bought a pizza to share with you at lunch anyways. When Tyler and Marwan tried to get in on the action, Kevin said that it was only for the people who went collecting.

“You’re being dramatic,” you said. “Kevin’s always weird. It’s why he’s a good friend.”

“He’s too busy being a good boyfriend to the girl he isn’t dating,” Tyler mumbled. “You have to fix it.”

“By doing what?”

“Tell him that you like him. Lie, and tell him that you don’t like him.” Tyler rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t care. But you have to do something.”

“He doesn’t like me,” you said patiently. “You’re being stupid.”

“And you’re being blind.”

You grinned. “Believe me, Kevin would make a move if he felt something. He’s never had any qualms about speaking his mind before.”

Tyler gave a non-committal hum. “Tell him that you like him. He’ll be stoked.”

“Or I won’t tell him, and I won’t be disappointed when he tries to let me down gently.” That seemed like the far superior option.

“Because doing nothing is way better,” Tyler said. “Totally. That’s, like, the epitome of good seduction techniques. Do absolutely nothing and hope that something changes.”

“Yikes.”

“It’s the truth. Either you tell Kevin how you feel, or you try to move on. Waiting hasn’t helped so far,” he pointed out.

That was true. You were as single now as you had been when you first started noticing how incredible Kevin was. Tell him, or move on.

Tell him. You felt sick to your stomach when you imagined the horrified look on Kevin’s face when he realized that there were some decidedly not-friendly feelings mixing in the friendship.

Move on. It didn’t feel any better to picture dating somebody else.

Okay, so both options felt awful. That made things a little easier; you could go all Into The Woods on this and wait for something to decide for you. You would wait for some sort of sign, and let that be the deciding factor.

 

 

You waited for a sign, and when it finally arrived, you felt worse than ever.

 

 

“If we rap all of our answers at States, the other team will be too intimidated to win,” Kevin insisted.

“Or they’ll answer everything before us,” Marwan counted, “because we’ll be wasting our time trying to freestyle.”

“That’s a personal problem,” Kevin said. “I don’t need time.”

“Y/N, tell Kevin that his idea is dumb AF.” Marwan didn’t bother looking at you, and you didn’t bother giving Kevin an apologetic grin.

“Kevin, that’s a bad plan. Winning will make you cooler than a rap will.”

He deflated for a second, but the smile returned with vengeance. “We’ll be hot stuff when we win,” he agreed. “You’ll have to keep your distance, unless you want to burst into flames on contact.”

“I won’t see you that night.” You sighed, all exaggerated disappointment, in the hopes that they wouldn’t hear the real disappointment that mingled with nerves. “I’ll be at the dance.”

“What?” All three of the boys gaped at you, but Tyler looked the most surprised of all. “I thought you were coming to the competition.”

“I was, but then I got asked to the dance.”

Tyler’s eyes were the size of dinner plates. “You’re going on a date?”

All faces in the room reflected varying degrees of horror, including you. You could only hope that a smile would mask that fact that you really didn’t want to go on this date. “C’mon, guys. It isn’t that crazy that somebody would want to date me.”

“No, not crazy at all,” Kevin said, his face a few shades paler than it had been before. “Who’d you sucker into hanging out with you for the night?”

“Seth Mosakowski,” you said.

Kevin gave a scathing snort. “Dude, he made out with Karen Smith last year. They’re cousins.”

“Good thing I’m not his cousin, then.”

“He’s an idiot,” Marwan said.

“Good thing I’m not, then.”

“You don’t even like him,” Tyler said emphatically.

You looked at your hands. “Good thing he likes me, then.” The words were saturated with bitterness, and it seemed like the mood got to the guys. Smiles were rare for the rest of the afternoon, and they never belonged to Kevin.

 

 

Dances were trippy places. It seemed like every moment was blending together, even the moment you were living in. The next morning, you were sure, the entire night would be a messy blur of dim lighting and warm bodies.

You were hoping so, at least, because you weren’t sure that you wanted to remember this date.

Seth was nice, and it wasn’t his fault that this sucked serious balls. It wasn’t his fault that you didn’t like his long, pointless stories. It wasn’t his fault that you didn’t understand the inside jokes he had with his friends, or that you weren’t interested in learning them. The only fault you could see in him was that he wasn’t the person you wanted to be there with.

“So we were in math class,” Seth said.

You hummed in acknowledgement, though he probably couldn’t hear you over the newest Ed Sheeran song.

“Jason was making a bang list for the junior class.”

You glanced back at the gym doors, wondering if it was too early to take your third bathroom break of the night. A tall, dark head of hair was wading through the clumps of students, and everything felt clear for the first time all night.

“He ranked Taylor Wedell over Gretchen, but only when he knew Cady was close enough to hear and report it back to her.”

You waited until Kevin get near enough to hear, and called his name. His head whipped toward you, warm grin plastered on before he even realized it was you. It faltered when he saw you, followed up by something that made you ache. “Looking pretty fly, G. Mathletes jackets are super vogue.”

“Y/N,” Kevin said, a little strangled. “You look amazing.”

“I know, right?” Seth grinned. “How goes it, Gnapoor? You must have missed the memo - we were supposed to look good for this. You wore the wrong outfit.”

Kevin’s smile was back. “Mosakowski. I was surprised to hear that you asked Y/N out; the two of you aren’t related.”

“Seth, can you leave us alone for a second?” You gave him a sweet smile, flicking Kevin an irritated look. Neither one looked pleased, but Kevin had the sense to look nervous. “I have to ask Kevin a question about some homework that’s due Monday.”

“Text me later,” Kevin said. “I’ve got a thing over there.”

“Over where?”

“Anywhere but here,” he mumbled. “Have fun, Y/N. Seth.”

“Not likely,” you mumbled while he brushed past. You felt him pause, surprised, but you didn’t look back.

 

 

Kevin: Norbury’s class. five minutes

Y/N: Why?

Kevin: homework

 

 

You told Seth that you had to use the bathroom, and he didn’t question it. You couldn’t tell if he truly believed that your bladder was a waterfall, or if he just wanted time away from you too. It hardly mattered.

The classroom door was cracked open, but the light was off. You loitered in front of the door for a minute, wondering if you should go in, until a hand reach out, grabbed your wrist, and yanked you through.

You gave a startled scream, but Kevin’s hand pressed against your lips.

“Jesus God, Y/N. We aren’t supposed to be in here; don’t get us caught.”

“Don’t manhandle me, then,” you snapped back. You had to stifle a grin at the sight of him, even with the irritation fueling you. “If you thought that I had actual homework questions, you are going to be sorely disappointed.”

“If you thought that I was dumb enough to miss the fact that you were lying,” he replied with a wry smile, “you are going to be sorely disappointed.”

You took a few steps back and settled against a desk. The room was too dark, too quiet, for you to stand that close to Kevin without imagining things that probably never happened outside of teen porn. “What’s up?”

“You said that you were having a bad night,” he said, closing the door. “Ya boi is saving you from a bad date.”

You did smile at that. “How sweet. What are you doing at the dance? You had States.”

“We already won, so we thought we should come over.”

“Funny,” you said. “It’s weird that you’d come to a dance, and then lock yourself in a room with me instead of actually dancing.”

“I don’t think it’s weird at all,” he said. In three long strides, he came to your desk, put his hands on your waist, and kissed you.

Moments in the evening had been blurring before, but now everything was perfectly clear. You were aware of everything - the lingering taste of an orange creamsicle that he must have had on the way over, the sound of corny music playing in the distant gym, the scrape of his teeth against your lips, the bite of the desk into your thighs.

If this was the sort of thing that only happened in teen porn, you didn’t want to be living anywhere else.

“Why the hell,” he mumbled against your lips, “would you go to homecoming with Seth Mosakowski?”

You snorted, giving the hair at the base of his neck a sharp tug. “It’s not like I had a better offer.”

“I had a competition today!”

“You still showed up,” you said. You pulled back a little, settling your arms around his neck in a loose hug. Kevin was smiling, bewildered and hopeful. 

“Because I knew you were here,” he said. 

“You came to the dance, just to watch me on my date?” 

“Something like that.”

You looked pointedly between the lack of space between your bodies. “You are a terrible casual observer.”

He kissed you again. “I can’t stand by and watch Hick Central steal my girl.”

“Your girl?”

“I bought you a pizza,” he said, rubbing his nose against yours. “I really thought that we were almost there.”

“You should have asked me out.”

“I thought we were almost there,” he said again. “It was an unspoken thing, Y/N.”

You looked at the ceiling, thoughtful. “I don’t remember agreeing to anything.”

“Babe.”

“Maybe I’ll have you as my classroom hookup, Seth as my dance partner, and a couple other guys on the side -”

“Bruh.”

You beamed. “Hey, if nobody’s asking -”

“I’m asking,” he said. Kevin wiped the smirk away, until the hope was all there was. “Let’s go out on a date. A real date - a spoken thing.”

“Are you sure that you can give up your man ho ways?”

“I can’t,” he teased. “But I’m only a ho for you.”

“Awe, babe,” you said, snorting. “I feel like that was supposed to be romantic, but it somehow wasn’t -”

He kissed you again, all smiles and happy sighs, and you responded in kind.


End file.
